A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historiae Literarum et Artium, 3. (Szeged, 2001)

Szabó Tamás: Négy magyar államférfi olajképe a szegedi Városi Múzeum képtárából (A művek története és a restaurálás tanulságai)

The Oil Painting of Four Hungarian Statesmen in the Art Gallery of the Szeged City Museum Tamás Szabó This study outlines the circumstances surrounding the establishment of the one-time City Museum and Art Gallery. For the first time it attempts to reconstruct, on the basis of contemporary documents, the interior of the permanent fine-art exhibition hall in the museum, as it was at the end of the 19th century. By making reference to the earliest archival photographs taken in the ceremonial hall, the study places emphasis on the vicissitudes undergone by many of the paintings of significant historic value. With the use of official records, we introduce the way in which the judicial authorities of Szeged took part in the declared all-nation celebrations - which followed the death of Lajos Kossuth - when invitations and commissions were issued throughout the country for the painting of largescale historic works to celebrate the millennium of the existence of the Hungarian slate. In the interest of immortalising famous local historic events, the city voted from the budget an amount which was excessive, even by national standards, and commissioned a full-length portrait of the noble Hungarian politicians (Lajos Kossuth, Count István Széchenyi, Ferenc Deák and Count Gyula Andrássy). The reasoning behind the Resolution passed by the city's General Assembly was as follows: '...for the patriotic merit which led to the revival of the nation, and the restoration of private and political rights'. This study follows the destiny of the paintings, right from their conception until the supposed time of their display. By the use of written and photographic documents, the study clears up those misconceptions which have gathered around the more than a century old paintings. It considers the restoration of the paintings and the method used to restore their decorative frames, as well as a historic iconographie and costume description of the illustration of the four Hungarian Statesmen, with special emphasis on the birth-pangs which surrounded the conception of the Andrássy painting. 42